What's lesser-known (at least it was to me until recently) is how common it is for politicians to use a name that's not printed on their birth certificates.

"There was a cultural thing that happened in the 1970s when James Earl Carter ran as Jimmy Carter," said Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University. "He went to court to get on the ballot as Jimmy. Once he did that, a lot of people said I want to be known as 'X' on the ballot."

The Oregon Secretary of State's Office has two lines for names on its candidate filings: one for candidate name and one for ballot name.

Some Oregon politicians go by their middle names.

Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sun River, was born Cleatus Gene Whisnant.

"In the South, many go by their middle name and the first name may be a family name," Whisnant said. "Both my father and grandfather were Cleatus Whisnants."

Gene was given his moniker in honor of Gene Autry, the cowboy actor and singer, whom his mother adored.

"My father did not have a role in choosing my name as he was serving in WWII in Europe and fighting in the 'Battle of the Bulge' when I was born," Whisnant said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader's first name is Walter, and Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, was born Lona Kim Thatcher.

"I have used the name Kim ever since I was born," Thatcher said. "The first time my first name was used consistently by others was on my first day of kindergarten."

Thatcher's classmates and teachers consistently mispronounced her first name by using a long "O" sound, turning it into a name she didn't like.

"Later in elementary school I decided to quit answering to the wrongly pronounced name and insist people call me Kim," Thatcher said. "I have stuck with that policy ever since."

House candidate Laura Cooper dropped her married name for the ballot. Her legal name is Laura Cooper Fenimore. On the flip side, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson added her maiden name back in when she ran for office. Her legal name is Laurel Sue Anderson.

That brings me to the topic of nicknames.

Former President Bill Clinton's full name is William Jefferson Clinton, and Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, is Elizabeth Johnson.

This is also true for me.

My full, legal name is Annette Beth Staver, but my friends, my husband and all of you know me as Anna.

Annette is a fine name, but it's never one I've liked for myself.

I considered legally changing my name to Anna, but it seemed like a lot of work when I'm able to use my nickname in my daily life.

A Journal of Experimental Social Psychology study published in December 2011 concluded that the more pronounceable a person's name, the more likely people are to like them. The theory is that our brain favors information that's easy to process and use.

When the researchers asked people to vote for political candidates based solely on their names, those with the easiest to pronounce names fared the best.

We know a lot more about people and politicians than just their names, but choosing Bill over William just might give a candidate an edge.

And who knows? Maybe chrysanthemums would have become the iconic flower of love if we had only decided to call them roses.